SF Conservancy Speaks Out Against Developer Doing GPL Enforcement For Financial Gain

[phoronix]

Phoronix: SF Conservancy Speaks Out Against Developer Doing GPL Enforcement For Financial Gain

The Software Freedom Conservancy has issued a blog post this week about community-oriented principles in GPL enforcement work and in particular pointing out a Linux developer who hasn't agreed to these terms and is allegedly focusing upon GPL enforcement for his own financial gain...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=SF-Conservancy-Gain

[cb88]

If nobody enforces the GPL, nobody will obey it.

If you want to enforce the GPL and you don't want to burn your own money doing it... then you have to seek financial gain from the copyright breakers. Also, copyleft isn't a real thing legally as far as I know... it's just a use case of copyright. Even if this guy is seeking to make a ton of money off this... I have no problem with that breaking the GPL is pretty hard.

[cl333r]

If nobody enforces the GPL, nobody will obey it.

If you want to enforce the GPL and you don't want to burn your own money doing it... then you have to seek financial gain from the copyright breakers. Also, copyleft isn't a real thing legally as far as I know... it's just a use case of copyright. Even if this guy is seeking to make a ton of money off this... I have no problem with that breaking the GPL is pretty hard.

Wow, discussing juridic stuff, exciting.
When this type of threads happen (especially on sites like slashdot) the threads always develop into uncertainty, about how everything is relative, how this or that judge in this or that country in this or that year in a certain case ruled in favor or against somebody and what it means or doesn't mean for the current case with plethora of opinions and cross-links. One ends up sighing and closing the tab.

[duby229]

Well, it seems pretty obvious they just want to get a piece of that man's pie. They don't deny his copyright claims were infringed, they are just angry that he gets the settlement and their position as a community based organization isn't in the loop.

[DanL]

Well, it seems pretty obvious they just want to get a piece of that man's pie. They don't deny his copyright claims were infringed, they are just angry that he gets the settlement and their position as a community based organization isn't in the loop.

I read their statement and I don't get that out of it at all (much less find it "pretty obvious"). Do you have any citation(s) to back this accusation up?

[duby229]

I read their statement and I don't get that out of it at all (much less find it "pretty obvious"). Do you have any citation(s) to back this accusation up?

Perhaps I should have said seems obvious to me. IMO. I read the same words you did and that was my take on it is all.

[Michael_S]

Well, it seems pretty obvious they just want to get a piece of that man's pie. They don't deny his copyright claims were infringed, they are just angry that he gets the settlement and their position as a community based organization isn't in the loop.

If you read the rest of the things Bradley Kuhn and Karen Sandler write and say, or listen to their Free As In Freedom podcast, their entire focus with GPL enforcement is compliance and never revenue. They want the Software Freedom Conservancy to get its money from donations. For GPL violators, all they both want is for them to comply with the license.

if it helps, think of Richard Stallman. He's not in it for the money, he just wants all software everywhere to be available under a free software license - ideally a copyleft one. Kuhns was director of the Free Software Foundation for five years and is on the board of directors. Karen Sandler does legal work for the Software Freedom Law Center and the Free Software Foundation.

[ssokolow]

As Eben Moglen (founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center) said in his keynote, Software and Community in the Early 21st Century, convincing companies that all you want is compliance tends to make them much more receptive.

[OneTimeShot]

I dunno... If he's gone to court and the court has fairly decided that he deserves the money, then I don't see what the problem is. It's not exactly patent troll territory.

[starshipeleven]

Well, it seems pretty obvious they just want to get a piece of that man's pie. They don't deny his copyright claims were infringed, they are just angry that he gets the settlement and their position as a community based organization isn't in the loop.

Also not seeing it. "prioritizing GPL compliance over financial gain" is pretty obviously not "we want some pie too".